Fitness Journey

In the beginning I was a 206lb "flabalicious" fat guy rapidly approaching the big 3-0. So, how am I doing? Today, about seven months in, I weighed 166.6lbs. Over the holidays I went back up to 178 lbs, but now I am working on reaching my goal of 159 lbs, 7% body fat, and a Ninja Warrior ready body.

For your enjoyment and benefit, the following is a brief reference guide to help you learn the importance of avoiding debt, how to save (regardless of your income), and and how to save painlessly (and for the masochists- painfully). (more…)

I now no longer owe even a single dime to Household Bank. That is one card down, six more to go. This means that roughly 22% of our peak credit card debt from last year has been eliminated. Gosh, this feels even better than I thought it would.

We have been fighting an uphill battle against credit card debt since we first got married almost four years ago. Facing over $16,000 in credit card debt (costing us over $500/month) we took a big step last July and cut our credit cards into tiny little pieces. So how are we doing now thus far?

Well, what are my blogging plans for the next month or so (at least the highlights)…

First, I will be writing three posts for StraighttotheBar.com. [Click on the link now and see a video a guy bending a wrench]. Most likely the posts will be entitled:

“Eliminating the Lug Nuts: How to Find a Good Trainer.”

“The Power of the Negative.”

“Visualization: No Longer just for New Age Hippies.”

Much to my wife’s chagrin over at Musings, Rants, and Monologues I will be posting on my recent quest to build the perfect minority. Trust me, it will be both offensive, sophomoric, and politically incorrect to the 1,000 degree.

And right here on this, my main blog, I will be posting on my recent struggles with food, our upcoming travels, getting a handle on credit card debt (our experience), and the kind of things you do to start a mental transformation that can keep pace with your physical transformation. See you later!

As we near out first pay check in over two months (times have been tough but God provided) we are set to implement some money saving procedures and a much improved budget. What have we done? Well I will share with you three tips today to shrink your expenses and saved lots of money

First, perhaps the biggest change for us, we are limiting our grocery/all things Wal-Mart budget (excluding dog food) to $250 per month. We are going to enforce this budget limit by taking out $250 cash at the beginning of the month and placing said cash in an envelope to be used each time we shop. When the money runs out, no more groceries. As an incentive to save more, 50% of the money left over at the end of the month can be used for ANYTHING we want.

Estimated Savings: $200-400/month

Second, we are going automatic. We are signing up as many bills as possible for automatic bill pay. We have been paying anywhere from $5 to $25 dollars in late fees each month. The main offender is our water bill. It is the only bill that comes without a return envelope and is therefore easy to forget about. To make matters worse the local water department are known in our house as the water Nazi’s- if you are two weeks late with your bill they shut off the water and charge $20 bucks (plus late fee) to reconnect. As if they weren’t selling the most abundant resource that only cost about $30 a month, and we were somehow going to run off without paying that hefty $35 dollar water bill….geesh.

Estimated Savings: $5-$25 dollars

Third, we will be paying down our lowest balance credit card in a month or two and using that card for gasoline- NOTHING else! Well okay, emergencies, but only real emergencies. The card will be paid off before the end of each month. It will help us budget our gas money and allow for quick and easy gas purchases. Tried buying gas without a credit card lately? It isn’t fun.

Whether it is finances or fitness, we often dig our own hole. We dig it with one shovel full of dirt at a time. We almost never see the whole until we are looking up and it seems we are so deep down that there is no possibility of escape.

The good news is, you can escape. the bad news, it will take time.

We dug our bad debt hole over three years. We started off in our marriage with four credit cards. Each of us brought two cards with respectable balances (about 35%-40% of the max) into the marriage.